The morning search took place in a large hall with an area with a snooker table, tables and chairs, and two raised areas of seating booths with more tables and chairs. There were balloons and streamers on the walls that worried some of the handlers, but all dogs handled these distractions well. The first hide was in the far left corner behind a pipe, but still accessible to the dogs. Handlers would have to push their dogs into this area and the dogs would have to be happy working under a table and navigating a chair. It was obvious from many of the dogs than odour was pooling on the table leg, but the dogs were able to work through this puzzle to locate the find. The second hide was in the booth seating on one of the raised platforms. This hide seemed to be trickier for the handlers as the stairs back down to the main floor was directly beside this hide meaning dogs tended to rush past the hide. Some very impressive searches in this area, and some very competent handler and dog teams. Those that scored lower were mostly due to being distracted in the search area or pawing at the hide. Very excited to see how these teams progress in future.
The afternoon search consisted of a corridor with a fire exit at the end and three changing rooms off this corridor. The first hide was behind a pipe at the end of the corridor near the fire exit. This hide was the easiest for the dogs to scent with the breeze from the door blowing down the corridor, however handlers had to be aware of their dog's change in behaviour so they didn't accidentally pull them off the odour, and trust that their dog wasn't just running to the end of the corridor. The second hide was under a door on the way into one of the changing rooms. Handlers had to be careful that they didn't rush past the door on the way into the changing room. All handler dog teams successfully found these two hides. Overall very high quality searches and cleared rooms very nicely.
Bronze AM
1st Janine Brownlees and Duster 87
2nd Lesley Clements and Tejo 86
3rd Sue Christie and Kaija 79
4th Debbie Goligher and Holly 74
5th Lynda Storey and Inca 69
6th Dawne Wilson and Reggie 68
Bronze PM
1st Lesley Clements and Gavita 88
2nd Jillian Marshall and Humphrey 85
3rd Janine Brownlees and Jojo 84
4th Laura Kirk and Munchie 73
5th Lynda Crozier and Jack 71
6th Louise Boomer and Charlie 69
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